Various types of lubricant are used inter alia wherever machine parts or engine parts are used. The better the lubricant characteristics, the smaller the amount of energy consumed in running the machines and the smaller the amount of wear on constituent parts. It has for many years been known that the basic substance boron has very good friction-reducing characteristics. Empirical tests show that significant fuel savings can be made by incorporating boron in lubricants and fuels, especially if the particle sizes of the boron substance are within the range 0.5-100 nanometers. The advantageous lubricant effect is due to the ability of boron to establish complex ligand bonds to metals, thereby forming multi-dimensional plates between which the Van de Waals forces are weak and which therefore easily slide relative to one another. The boron substance forms a self-repairing system in that new bonds to the metal continually replace worn-away material. In addition, borate ions constitute, owing to their electronegativity, an effective reducing agent which counteracts or prevents corrosion.
Many attempts have been made to dissolve boron in various liquids and lubricants. A problem has been to produce a water-based boron solution in which the boron substance in desired particle sizes and concentrations is completely dissolved in the liquid and remains dissolved over time, such that the boron substance does not precipitate and render the liquid turbid or settle out on the bottom of the container in which the liquid/solution is placed. Incorporating boron in a fuel or a lubricant by adding a boron substance/compound is therefore prior art. Various methods have also been patented.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,368,369 (Advanced Lubrication Technology) describes for example a method for mixing boric acid with, for example, engine fuels to achieve friction-reducing characteristics. This involves mixing the boric acid with a base oil and endeavouring to ensure that the particle sizes of the boron are between 0.5 and 20 micrometers, which is for example achieved by so-called jet milling.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,561 (Foley & Lardner) refers inter alia to a method whereby boron is added to and is in a “known way” mixed with a fuel or a lubricant in a concentration of 30-3000 ppm. There is no further indication as to how the actual mixing is done.
SE524898 (Eagle Water Ltd) describes a procedure for producing a boron solution in the form of a concentrate intended for mixing with a liquid, e.g. a liquid fuel. The method amounts to mixing a boron compound with a solvent and stirring and/or shaking the resulting mixture, possibly by means of a mechanical finely-dividing element and possibly at elevated temperature. The boron content may be up to 250,000 ppm but is preferably within the range 10-1000 ppm. The mixing method is not described in detail.
Prior art thus indicates that boron is in a “known way” mixed with a solvent, but does not indicate in more detail how to achieve a solution with completely dissolved boron substance and in which the boron substance remains completely dissolved, resulting in a solution which is stable over time. There is for example no indication of the initial boron substance or grade or how it is treated/incorporated in order to be completely dissolved in the liquid and remain stably dissolved over time. Further studies have found that boron solutions produced by these known methods do not remain stable over time, which is a significant and possibly crucial problem with regard to being able to sell the solutions on the market. It has thus been found that the boron particles in the solutions do not become stably dissolved but readily aggregate and over time gradually precipitate, resulting inter alia in the liquid becoming turbid. The boron particles also settle out progressively on the bottom of the container in which the solution is placed, which may for example be the oil pan of a vehicle. The decreasing boron content of the liquid greatly reduces the desired and intended lubricating characteristics of the solution, and the concentrated precipitation of boron may even cause damage to engines and machines. For example, if precipitated boron in concentrated form enters, for example, an engine, it will form undesirable hard and harmful deposits throughout the engine, e.g. on pistons, on exhaust valves, in pumps, in filters and on or in other vital parts of the engine.
Prior art within this field thus does not indicate how to solve the problem of achieving a boron solution which in desired particle sizes and concentrations is non-turbid and stable over time.